Our Story
The concept of a mobile clinic that navigates between villages separated by bodies of water came not as a vision but as a necessity. Its founder, Dr. German Agravante, realized that the same hopeless conditions he encountered as a child in a remote island in Albay has worsened through the years he was away, living and working in the Netherlands. He organized a medical mission but there were no medical professionals who were willing to brave the hours-long trip to these basically forgotten places where basic health and sanitation facilities are lacking or unheard of. Instead of giving up, he took up Medicine and started planning out the requirements and logistics of launching a floating mobile clinic.
His exposures to various preventable, poverty-attributable cases presented in the ERs and open wards at major hospitals in the mainland only strengthened his resolve to realize his dreams of forging a health lifeline for the island people.
In 2017, he purchased a second-hand, eight-meter outrigger boat, powered by a 15-horsepower diesel engine (large enough to carry up to 10 volunteers and three boxes of assorted medicines donated by physician-friends) to finally begin his humble mission. His team consists of colleagues and friends who also want to devote their free day away from their busy city schedule to finally answer that naging call for change.
Halted and yet undeterred by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Floating Clinic continues to strive to attain higher goals and reach farther destinations. In 2022, a 16-meter boat was constructed to house a full clinic setup, complete with a laboratory for blood tests, a spacious consultation room to accommodate four physicians and their patients at one time and an area for uncomplicated outpatient surgeries. In May 2023, a much-needed grant from the Rotary Club of District 3740 of Seoul, South Korea made possible the completion of the boat structure, enabling the launch of the only Floating Clinic in the Philippines in the humble village of Namantao, Cagraray Island, serving its initial 362 patients in one day.
The missions, all run by volunteers, have been dependent on the generosity of friends who selflessly share their resources to provide medicines, food and supplies needed in every mission. This project, started as a wild "what if" idea, now serves thousands of otherwise forgotten people. It proudly stands as a testament to the selfless drive of local health professionals and benefactors to change the healthcare landscape in Albay for the better: one remote island village at a time.
10 million children die annually due to inaccessible medical services.
-- Save The Children Global Report
